Life After
by Silent-Harmony02
Summary: ME3 story that takes off from the end to what happens after the reapers are destroyed. Shepard M / Ashley; there may be other sublet relationships as the story progresses. Rated M for possible future chapters. Read and enjoy or if you don't like it just stop reading.
1. Destruction

**Author's Note:** I do not own Mass Effect characters but all the writing I am posting are all personal thoughts of my own, so please do not take them. I am not any English major, but I will do my best to try and write out this story to my best of ability.

Chapter One: Destruction

One moment there was communication feed from Admiral Hackett about the catalyst not doing anything then the next he had been crawling with blood flooding out from his side until he felt limp. Closing the eyes felt like he greatest relief possible, to not move felt even better. Before he knew it though the ground beneath him had started to rumble and he felt himself being elevated. Opening his eyes upon a new portion of the Citadel he had never seen before stood before him a VI… or maybe a ghost, or maybe he was just out of his mind. Looking at the VI in front of him who now named himself as the catalyst he had been aware. Unsure of what was to come until the catalyst had told him to make his decision. To control or to destroy; both were dangerous and one ensured his life to be gone while the other he may still live. Looking down upon himself and his bloodied body and the partially melted fragments of his N7 armor in him he shook his head. Who was he kidding, there was no chance of survival here. Sitting himself down with the catalyst looking upon himself John was stumped, he had come this far only to have limited choices, destroy the reapers or control; with control they would never rebel in the coming legacy to come but also costs him his life and possible future. Destruction would get rid of the reapers but the damage of destruction and causing the citadel to probably then throw him back down to earth would most likely result in his death as well. Once again it seemed like he had to choose his path. The last time he felt like this was back on Virmire when he had to choose between Ashley and Kaiden. He had fell in love with Gunnery Chief Williams and chose to save her over his lieutenant; a decision he still feels horrible about but content with at the same time. To take control of the reapers would mean that his relationship with Ashley that he had so adamantly sacrificed another soldier to have for would be worth nothing. It was then he rose from seated position and made his way to the generator tube. Pulling out his pistol he shot multiple bullets into the generator and then within moments he felt the Citadel rumble as if preparing a shot and before he could process what was going on he felt a thud and it all went black.

Three figures stood atop rubble from base camp as they watches three comrades run off towards the streaming light that was to lead to the Citadel also where the catalyst's main control was. In despair all three had watched all three of their comrades, one of which being their commander go down from a reaper beam. A human female had tried to run as if she could save them but was held back by the Turian and Asari. Hope had filled their eyes though when a figure was seen being shot up into the Citadel, and then another; for once there might have stood a chance against the reapers but now it was a waiting game. The female human walked over and sat against a broken wall just staring at the stream of light, refusing to make any form of communication or eye contact with the other two present.

Leaning over to the Turian the Asari whispered lightly, "Garrus, do you think she will be okay?"

Garrus could only shake his head, "To be honest Liara…. I don't know, hell I don't know if I will be okay if this son of a bitch doesn't come out of this alive" Garrus gave a grunt in frustration, "If he gets himself killed I am going to bring his ass back and shoot him with my rifle right between the eyes" there had been a look of dismay in his form and even worse worry in his eyes.

Liara sighed softly, "Garrus we can't lose hope yet… there were two people at least that got up there and hopefully everyone comes back alive; they might not be in one piece but alive is better than dead" putting her hand on the shoulder of Garrus in a sign of comfort she finished in saying, "We have to hold our own because whatever has happened to Shepard is going to put Ashley through hell and she will need us even if she won't admit it now."

Garrus repositioned himself and gave a small look of thanks to the Asari, "You are right T'Soni, but for everyone's sake I hope he comes out of this alive, plus he owes me…" Garrus was then shut silent as a stream of a red beam hit the Earth's surface and spread all around it and in moments the moving reaper forces just stopped, followed by an explosion. It was the most heart-warming event to see as each and every reaper had been destroyed then his eyes went to the relay where the red beam was then shot into causing an overload and the relay to explode as well and in an instant he looked to Liara and said, "What the hell was that?"

Liara looking baffled at the destruction of the reapers and then the mass relay thought for a moment and smiled, "That beam is the salvation for all the other galaxies to survive; that blast is clearly going out to destroy all the reapers in every system, that means Shepard did it… he saved us all even though it may have cost us the loss of the relays" there was a hint of glee in Liara's voice, yes the relay's may have been destroyed but the reapers had also gone with it.

Ashley stood up and looked to Liara and Garrus, "… he got ported into mid-air and fell into rubble…" she had a look of pain but determination at the same time and it was at that moment that Garrus and Liara knew that she not only meant Shepard but she also meant that they needed to get a search party going.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get to camp and get us a search party" Garrus said with a grin and in return got a small smile from Ashley, but he could tell she was hurting and knew that she had to have feared at this moment that the man she loved might have once again been taken from her. He looked to Liara and she nodded and without hesitation they all sprinted off towards the London base camp to gather up troops for their search party for the commander.


	2. Search & Rescue

Chapter Two: Search & Rescue

It had only taken a matter of twenty minutes or so for Garrus, Liara and Ashley to reach the main base camp of London. Upon reaching the entrance there were shouts and cheers in celebration as well as tears in the mourning of the dead. Ashley pushed her way through the crowd and headed towards the destroyed building up ahead which was also established as the headquarters for London. Liara and Garrus were in pursuit behind Ashley as they climbed up the rubble to the second floor where they were then greeted by their fellow comrades of each Normandy crew that John had put together. Looking to Admiral Hackett who had a genuine smile, Ashley gave him a look of despair, "He is still out there, we need to find him" Ashley said firmly as a statement not a request.

Admiral Hackett gave a long stern look to Ashley, "If he is out there, then we will find him. Has any words come in from the other members of the team that were down there with him making way towards the Citadel?" It was then that they heard soldiers erupting into a greater cheer and each member in the room looked out to see what the commotion was all about. There stood in bruised and bloodied, Tali'Zorah and James Vega. Admiral Hackett looked to John's crew and saw a look of hope and then firmly shouted, "Well what is the hold up, go and find your commanding officer and that's an order."

Ashley, Garrus, Liara, Jack, Jacob, Miranda, EDI, Javik, Grunt, Wrex and Samara didn't need to be told twice. They grabbed their gear and all darted out of the base camp with Ashley at point. She had saw him fall, so she knew a general area of where to search, but the problem is the reapers had been destructed and caused extra rubble to be present on the already destroyed land, which meant most likely the man she loved was buried under rubble. The allies and friends of Shepard all followed Ashley as they climbed over fallen reapers and finally came to a halt right by where a large thick metal pole and been sticking out of the ground. With one quick turn Ashley looked at the others and barked out, "Garrus, Liara and EDI take the South end and search within a ten mile radius from this pole. Javik and Jack take the West end and search within a ten mile radius from this pole. Jacob, Grunt and Samara take the East end and search within a ten mile radius from this pole. Miranda and Wrex you are with me and we are taking the North end and searching a ten mile radius from the pole. I saw him fall within this area from the sky, he is probably in critical condition and may even be dead, but we will dig and search until we find him and have his body found" Ashley did her best not to choke on the tears she felt build up in her and continued, "Each search group has someone capable of using biotics so let us use that to our advantage to move pieces of rubble and work together to find him; keep the radio calm open and notify over comm once you find him so we can get a medevac here" With her final words each search group took off to their designated directions to start their search and rescue operation for Shepard.

Each party had searched what felt like only minutes but turned into hours to point of darkness, everyone looked to Ashley and they could see the distraught and fragile state she was encumbered in. Garrus took one look to Wrex and nodded, "Ash, I think it's best you head back up to base camp for some rest... If he is out here we will find him" Garrus was greeted with a firm shake of the head from Ashley and a near death glare.

Garrus looked to Liara for better input and Liara gave a sympathetic look to Ashley and simply stated, "Why don't we have Grunt, Garrus, Wrex and Javik continue the search while the rest of us go to camp and get some food and water. Ashley we will be of no use to John if we are too worn and exhausted to extract him from wherever he may be."

Ashley wanted to shake her head at Liara, but the damned Asari had a point, they would be useless to John if they weren't strong. Part of her has been dying to get rest because just for a moment maybe she will wake up and it will all be a dream and he will be there next to her to tell her that he loved her. With a reluctant sigh she nodded and Liara, taking one last look out to the rubble she thought to herself, _John, I will find you and we will be able to know life without war and death_. Ashley and the others had started to walk away toward the camp when over to her left she saw a type of glimmer coming from a pile of rubble. Shaking her head she knew she had to be seeing things from exhaustion so she looked again and moments later there was another small flash of light. Ashley stopped in her tracks which caused the others to look at her and Miranda spoke up, "Is something wrong?"

Ashley looked to Miranda and Jack and said in haste, "On my gear is there a part where a flashing light would illuminate as a distress signal for searches?" Miranda and Jack looked at each other and then at Ashley in a confused daze and Ashley barked at them, "Is there port where a light would come out of my suit if my vitals were barely responsive!"

Miranda and Jack quickly looked over Ashley's gear and they got to the back part of her armor and saw what appeared to be a small light on her back plate, "It seems the Alliance has placed a possible placing of a light on the back plate in the event…" Miranda had started to say but was long out of ear shot from Ashley as she darted towards the flashing light. Miranda looking to where Ashley was running saw the light too and then it dawned on her, that it could be Shepard she looked to the others and screamed over to Wrex, Javik, Grunt and Garrus, "Boys, I think we might have found someone, possibly Shepard!"

It only took a moment for everyone to start running toward where Ashley had now been standing trying to peer into the rubble where there was indeed someone stuck under reaper rubble. Ashley looked to the others and said, "I need a light of some sort to see if its N7 armor or not" without hesitation each member took out their flashlights and handed them at Ashley and she could only give a small wry smile in return as she took one of the flashlights and poked it into the rubble. The light was a bit hard to center on the body but when it came into view of the light the sight was nearly devastating, the soldiers' armor had basically been burned into their skin; the problem was it was the back plate so she couldn't see any clear identification of N7 logo. In haste she ran around the pile of rubble and peered in from the other side with the flashlight and as she moved the flashlight she saw the N7 barely on the breastplate. She slowly raised the flashlight to the head of the N7 soldier and came to see the face of Shepard. A look of relief and panic filled her all at once and she barked out to the other, "We got him, we need a medevac here pronto and to get all this crap off him now!"

In moments Liara, Samara, Jack, Jacob and Miranda were using biotics to slowly but surely remove the rubble pieces off the commander. Meanwhile Garrus opened the comm system and reported in to Admiral Hackett that Shepard was found and was in need of a medevac as soon as possible in order to determine his state of being. They didn't know if he was alive yet or not, but if he was he was going to need immediate care. It only took moments for a whole medical unit team to arrive as well as more soldiers for the digging. Ashley had gotten fed up on waiting as they reached the last layers of rubble and ran into the rubble to get to John. She had felt the damage being done to her gear as she was working her ways in rubble but she was nearly there at John's side and that is where she wanted to be. As soon as she reached his side she put her index and middle finger up to his neck to check for a pulse and surely there was a weak but very present heart beat pulse. He was alive, badly beaten but alive and that was all that mattered. She took his hand in hers and held it until all the rubble had finally been removed and the medevac immediately extracted him and took him to the nearest medical station at base camp. The whole crew of the Normandy had a look of relief but they all knew it was not over yet; the commander still had a lot of repair to be done to his damaged body.


	3. Recovery

Chapter Three: Recovery

It was funny, Commander Shepard had gone through many things but not once did he ever feel like this; when he died back on the original Normandy he just remembered his air supply leaving him and slowly but surely dying. He remembered feeling like it had just been a night of sleep but with no dream, just black. Now here after he had shortly been severely injured he was just in this room, or was this just in his head? He looked down at himself and he was in his fatigues which he clearly remembers last having part of his N7 armor plate melded on his chest. Looking around he was then approached by a familiar figure also in fatigues and his eyes went wide. Standing before him looked like Kaiden, and even smiled like him too. He was lost for words…. Then it dawned on John that he may very well be dead right now and he felt his face start to fall at the idea he once again left Ashley. Kaiden looked at him all too knowing and shook his head and from behind him came Mordin who gave his smile and began to speak, "We are losing him! Everyone clear!" it came out in an unknown voice and clearly not Mordin's Salarian voice and then in the next instant he felt a shock in his chest causing his eyes to flutter open and his lungs to fill with air. His surroundings were that of medical evacuation ship, which most likely was taking him to a medical unit on a ship. He felt pain surging through his body and his heart rate increased, the medic that had only moments ago shocked him gave him a sedative in his IV unit and just as he closed his eyes he saw Ashley with a look of worry and hope.

It had been twenty-seven days, three hours and thirty-three minutes since Shepard had been found and taken onboard the SSV Kilimanjaro where the best medical team had awaited the arrival of the nearly dead Commander. It had taken about three days of surgery just to get a stabilizing environment for more surgery. Then it took fifteen days to do the major surgery of unmolding his armor that had melded onto his skin and caused him to bleed out. Then it took six days for blood transfusions and stitching up and checking vitals and now here she was sitting at his side waiting to see this crystal green eyes to look at her. He had not yet awoken and the doctors had told her time and time again that it was all up to him now on when he would awake, then again the fact he is even alive was nothing short of a miracle. She had been sure that on the transporter when they had lost him that he was gone forever, but she watched as they shocked his body back and saw his eyes open and aware right before they had closed again. With John, it looked as if his body had gone through hell and back and Ashley could only imagine the pain he will be in the second he opened those eyes, but she knew that he was alive and that's really all that mattered. Every day has just about ritually been the same, everyone stops in to check on him, Hackett comes in to get a report on his status and then Allers tries to get an interview to feed into the public's and other military members question of the century, is the hero of the galaxy going to make it out okay? In her mind he has already beaten the odds, but in others until he is walking and talking he might as well be considered dead. With a long sigh she took John's hand in hers and whispered softly, "Skipper, don't you think you have slept enough and kept the galaxy waiting long enough to see and hear from you again?"

Ashley had been expecting to hear silence but in a grunted response she got, "Just five more minutes please Ash."

Ashley had felt tears in her eyes, he had finally woken up and without hesitation she kissed his lips where she had finally in all the time been waiting for him to awake got the kiss returned. She smiled at Shepard and then had to let go of his hand which made him look confused and scared. Ashley disappeared for only a few moments before coming back into the room with some doctors who started going over Shepard's charts. The doctor gave a genuine smile to Shepard and finally spoke, "Well Commander Shepard, your charts show stability in your heart rate which means the medicine is working to your advantage. As you can probably tell you are in no condition to just walk out of here with no problems. For routine purpose you will be here in the recovery room for a couple more days before we release you to head to wherever you choose. Given your circumstances though and the way in which we found your body, you fortunately can walk but given the great degree of burns you had acquired it will be advised to use a standard wheel chair for the first couple weeks until your body is ready. The whole recovery process is very simple. The only concerns you will have are when you are released from the hospital and I am sure the Normandy's medical doctor will have no problem changing your bandaging for you. It is great to see you awake, we will be sure to contact Admiral Hackett as fast as possible about your current awakening" the doctor then turned on their heels and headed out the door leaving Shepard and Ashley alone.

"So I take it there is no way I am getting out of here any time soon" Shepard said nonchalantly to Ashley who in response had only shook her head, "So which ship exactly am I on?"

"SSV Kilimanjaro, but I am sure with the right permissions we can get you transported to the Normandy's medical bay for the remainder of your recovery" Ashley said with a soft smile and held Shepard's hand, which in response he squeezed her hand.

"I don't care where I am for this recovery Ash, just as long as it has you" Shepard replied softly and took Ashley's hand that was in his and kissed it giving her his million credits smile, in response he got a soft kiss on the lips which he held no complaints on and gladly returned it with the final lingering thought of how recovery was going to be almost as good as shore leave.


End file.
